1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a design support program and a design support method for supporting mechanism control. In particular, the present invention relates to a design support program and a design support method for software for controlling a transport mechanism for transporting a sheet of paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
Transporting sheet objects (i.e., hereinafter “paper”) is performed in various machines and apparatuses. For example, image forming apparatuses, such as copiers and printers, transport sheets of paper by using transport mechanisms, such as rollers and guides.
Currently, transporting sheets of paper in only one direction at one speed is very rare. In most cases, the position of a sheet of paper is sensed by a sensor, the sheet of paper is stopped at a predetermined position, or the direction of transport is reversed by reversing the direction of rotation of rollers. Therefore, it is necessary to use software for controlling paper a transport mechanism.
As recent image forming apparatuses have enhanced functionality and productivity, software for controlling the image forming apparatuses have become more complicated, and the number of man-hours needed to find problems, track down the cause of the problems, and correct them has increased.
Under such circumstances, with improvement in performance of recent computers, designing paper transport mechanisms using a simulation technique has become more popular. For example, a system for finding potential failures by calculating the behavior of paper with a simulation has been proposed, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-081600 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,844,819).
In addition to the increasing use of simulation techniques in various cases, a technique for verifying the correct operation of software for controlling a mechanism has also been proposed. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-143260 discloses a design support method in which an external event, such as on/off operations of a switch, closing and opening of a cover, and the like, is caused by input from an input device (e.g., a keyboard).
However, conventional simulators for verifying the correct operation of software can simulate an abnormal status but do not have a function of recovering from the abnormal status to a normal status. In particular, conventional methods do not have an interface and a function of deleting a sheet of paper in a simulation when a paper jam is caused during paper transport, and therefore, they cannot return to the normal status and perform the next job.
For a simulator using a real machine, since recovery from the abnormal status is realized by an operation of a user, a function of returning to the normal status is not required. By contrast, for a simulator performing all tasks on a computer, this function is necessary because a returning sequence cannot be verified without it.
In printer control, failures tend to occur when a system recovers from the abnormal status, as well as those that occur when the abnormal status appears. Therefore, recovery from the abnormal status, especially, a paper jam status, is necessary for verification of the correct operation of software for controlling transport mechanism.
In some cases, paper tears and shreds of the paper are left behind while a system recovers from a paper jam. To address such cases, simulating recovery from the abnormal status should be performed. However, conventional design support methods cannot simulate such conditions.